Things Can Go Wrong

Chapter Twenty Four

AISURU

"Listen, A."

"For this to work, we need to be able to have backup."

"I'm asking you to be backup while Kanashi drives us to the store."

"Understood?"

"Got it." I reply quietly.

"Now, you'll be the one carrying the money once we get out of the store, so keep it safe."

"You'll also be keeping guard while we do our work while you are in the car."

"There are a few ground rules."

"No noise from the car, or it's game over."

"No interfering, or you lose your cut of this entire operation."

"Understood?"

"Understood." I reply.

"OK."

"We get into the car in ten minutes, and then the ETA to the store is about fifteen minutes."

Suji dumps a mask in my left hand, and walks off briskly. I put the mask on for a couple of seconds just to see how it fits on me, before looking inside the duffel bag that I'll be placing the money in. Keep in mind, the rest of the gang do have temporary bags, however once they've escaped I have control of the money from there.

As enthusiastic as I sound, I really hate this. The only thing keeping me in place, is the fact that I'm not getting exposed and that if this all goes correctly, I should be receiving a total of 1.1 million yen (about $7800) from just placing money in a bag and watching outside the store.

Once I've received the money, my plan is to go quiet for a little while when it comes to this sort of thing, so that way I'm as far out of it as I want to be.

Suji signals for everyone to get into the car, and even though I look surprisingly excited, the reality of what I'm doing sinks in entirely. I snap out of it quickly though, as I have to remind myself that I'm doing this practically to help people.

As a good six of us scramble into the car, I hear the clicking of seatbelts and the rummaging of several bags, containing things that I don't even think I want to actually ask. The car ride to the store is tense and silent, the only sounds reverberating from the inside of the car being still, shallow breaths and the odd sound of a cigarette being lit, which seems unusual amongst the still air.

I see the store in the distance, and my entire body tenses up on what I am about to do. As much as I'm thinking about Kirai and the rest of the gang, my emotions come to breaking point and the urge to dive out of the car and run becomes almost uncontrollable. I even move slightly in my seat, gripping onto the car door, getting ready to do so, but my mind goes to a slump as I remember what Suji said he would do to me if I leave.

Kanashi, the driver, parks into a disabled spot at the front of the store, and Suji turns to face us and tell us of our plans, giving a brief outline to the robbery at what's going to happen. After he's finished, he smiles at all of us, puts his mask on and takes out three of the members to go and carry out the robbery, leaving me and the driver, Kanashi.

I stare out of the windows for a few minutes, trying my best to "watch guard" before adjusting the duffel bag between my feet for ease of use. Kanashi, does nothing, and scrolls through his phone impatiently.

After about thirty more seconds of silence, Kanashi turns his phone off and quietly whispers "I want to drive away from this store right now." and he turns to me, looking melancholic.

"What do you think... about all of this?" he says.

I'm not exactly sure what to really say, however I probably will be brutally honest with him. I mean, he did just say that he wanted to drive away now, so I suppose we have resonated feelings. At the same time though, a slight feeling in my gut tells me that I don't want to say, as Kanashi might report what I say to Suji, and that directly means that I'll be exposed extremely quickly.

Either way, my mouth moves faster than my brain, and I slip out "I hate it."

"So do I." he says, sounding like he's about to break down crying.

"This is my second time being a driver for this gang." he says, sighing.

"So far, I've received about 2.5 million yen."

"The only reason I'm here is because I was forced." he adds.

"Sure, the money is nice..."

"But I was stripped from having a job that I really wanted, for this..."

"What was the job?" I ask.

"An engineer in a recording studio down in England."

"I could have been making £50,000 a year."

"In yen, that's about 9.1 million a year."

Kanashi keeps talking to me, and I soon learn of what happened to him, and how he ended up here. Apparently, his dad was a crime kingpin, and he forced his son into the criminal underworld just so he could "make a living" while he was in his third year in high school, however he wanted to take a completely different path from his dad, instead opting to go into the music business in a country abroad.

I don't tell him much about me, but I rather tell him that I was forced into this at random after being selected by Suji while at school, and he ends up buying it. The conversation doesn't go much from there, the situation tense and nerving. After a few minutes, I hear alarm bells come from the store, and I see Suji leading the other members to a car, carrying handfuls of paper notes, before they scramble back into the car, screaming at us to get a move on.

I quietly place the money in the duffel bag and Kanashi swerves out of the car park and speeds down the road towards Suji's apartment. Behind us are several cars sounding their horns at how fast Kakashi's going, and he stays entirely silent throughout the procedure.

Once we reach Suji's apartment, we run in and he locks the doors and windows, leaving the room almost entirely blacked out. He puts on a few handhelds lights, and all of us gather round his lounge room. He counts the money, before handing each of us sums of money.

"In total, we managed to make a total of 15 million yen." Suji says proudly.

"This will be split across all of you."

"You may go."

All of us slowly walk out of the apartment, and me and Kanashi walk out first.

We don't say anything to each other, but there's a look in his eyes that says that we both feel the same way about this entire ordeal. It's nice to know that someone else understands how I feel about doing this. Just as I leave the apartment and start walking back to my house, I get a text from my parents, and I open the message.

"Hey, we are going to be away for the week, so you have control of the house."

"We thought it would be nice to give you time on your own for a little while."

"Have fun!"

"M and D."

I wonder how this is going to go...